‘Genius’ sneak peek: Geoffrey Rush is Albert Einstein

Nearly everybody knows about noted physicist Albert Einstein, but very few people know the intricacies of his personal life.

National Geographic is lifting the veil on Einstein’s life with Genius, a 10-part global event series that explores Einstein’s remarkable achievements as well as his complex personal relationships. Volatility seems to be a hallmark of the scientist’s passionate private life.

In this scene, Einstein (Geoffrey Rush) is seen instructing a class. “Time is not absolute,” he declares. He uses our sun to help his students understand the concept of light and time, and just as he’s swept up in his process, he snaps awake.

It turns out that it’s a young Einstein (Johnny Flynn) daydreaming about his future while being stuck in a repetitive, boring class. Time is not absolute, indeed.

Based on Walter Isaacson’s book Einstein: His Life and Universe, Genius chronicles Einstein’s rise from humble origins as an imaginative, rebellious thinker, through his struggles to be recognized by the establishment, to his global celebrity status as the person who unlocked the mysteries of the cosmos with his theory of relativity.